Ecuadoran president accuses bishops of betraying him

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Aug 22, 2008 / 18:39 pm

In an interview with Radio La Luna, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa openly attacked the bishops of Ecuador accusing them of “stabbing me in the back” by not supporting his controversial constitutional reform.

Correa accused the Bishops’ Conference of Ecuador of having been “one of the biggest disappointments” of his government because, he argued, the Church participated actively with its proposals in the process of redacting the constitution, which is now being questioned for its anti-life and anti-family elements.

“I consider it to be a stab in the back,” Correa said, claiming that he had responded “to 80% of what the Church requested,” but “we did not put the exact text that they wanted in the part on conception” and therefore “now they say the constitution is pro-abortion.”

Correa said that before the criticisms by the bishops, he had bragged to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Luis Ignacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil and Nestor Kirchner of Argentina about being “the only leftist leader in Latin America who got along with the leaders of the Church.”

In response to the attacks by Correa, the Ecuadoran bishops have firmly reiterated their position and several days ago unanimously reconfirmed their criticisms of the new constitution for not guaranteeing the right to life from the moment of conception, for attacking the family and the right of parents to educate their children according to their own convictions.

The bishops reminded the Ecuadoran people that it is within the Church’s responsibility to make her voice heard whenever human life is under attack.  They also reiterated that “the clergy has the full and unquestionable right to preach, expound and defend catholic dogma and morals.”

The new constitution drafted under Correa will be put to a referendum on September 28.